There is no more identifiable data in families than the surname. They are a fundamental part of an inheritance and provide very relevant information for several censuses. One of them is the population and, specifically, where each family comes from. As with virtually every issue today, there are specialized sites dedicated to researching one's ancestry. Portals such as Ancestry which recently analyzed which surnames are most popular in each state in the nation. It found that an increasing number of states are inhabited by more Hispanic families.
In fact, Texas, California, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada are the states where the Hispanic presence is more frequent since among the most common surnames in these areas are Latin American ones. And the most common Hispanic surnames are, in this order, García, Hernández and López.
Garcia, Hernandez and Lopez, the three most common Hispanic surnames
The website also provides information on these surnames and, specifically, how long they have been in the country. García, the most frequent Hispanic surname in the nation was registered in "the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Scotland between 1840 and 1920", according to Ancestry. According to the website's data, in 1840 there were "24 families with the García surname living in Louisiana."
Of possible, but uncertain pre-Roman origin but registered in medieval times, García is the sixth most common surname in the United States and the most common in Spain. Historically, according to the website, the first García families to arrive in the country worked as laborers or day laborers and housekeepers.
The second most common surname is Hernández. Ancestry explains that this surname has been present in the United States since 1840 when a total of 12 families with this surname were registered in the territory of Florida. This surname appeared for the first time in Italian territory (mainly settled in the south of Italy, between Naples and Palermo) and has a Jewish-Sephardic origin.
As with García, the main occupations of the first Hernández families to arrive in the United States were laborers and day laborers as well as domestic servants. The specialized platform points out that the Hernández families had a fairly short life expectancy, which did not exceed 33 years in 1940. This figure increased to 69 years in 2004.
Finally, López closes the list of the most frequent Hispanic surnames in the nation. Of Jewish-Sephardic origin, it is the twelfth most frequent surname in the United States. As with the other two surnames, the first López families first appeared in the region in 1840. According to the Ancestry website, that year a total of 14 families were registered in the census in Louisiana. Data on the first occupations of the Lopezes date back a century. Ancestry assures that in 1940 most of those who bore this surname in the United States worked as laborers or day laborers as well as domestic servants, laborers and seamstresses. In addition, their life expectancy was quite short. Thus, in 1940 it stood at 26 years, while in 2004 it increased to 68 years.
Smith, the most frequent surname in the United States
However, the most common surname continues to be Smith. In total, 35 of the 50 states have it among their three most common nicknames. Of English and Scottish origin, the Smiths have been in the United States since 1840. That year, a total of 7,086 families with that surname were registered in New York and that "represented 20% of all families registered with the Smith surname in the United States."
People with this last name usually worked as laborers and day laborers as well as domestic servants. In 1940, they had a life expectancy of about 46 years. That life expectancy increased to 73 in 2004.
Smith is followed, in order of importance, by Johnson, Miller, Jones, Williams and Anderson before arriving at García, the first Hispanic surname to appear on the list and the sixth most common nationwide.
Most common surnames by state
In addition, Ancestry made a list showing the three most common surnames in each state in the nation. It shows the predominance of Smiths, although states in the south are increasingly populated by Hispanic families:
- Alabama: Smith, Williams, Johnson.
- Alaska: Smith, Williams, Johnson.
- Arizona: Smith, Johnson, Garcia.
- Arkansas: Smith, Williams, Johnson.
- Colorado: Smith, Johnson, Martinez.
- Connecticut: Smith, Johnson, Brown.
- Delaware: Smith, Johnson, Brown.
- Florida: Smith, Williams, Johnson.
- Georgia: Smith, Williams, Johnson.
- Hawaii: Lee, Wong, Kim.
- Idaho: Smith, Johnson, Anderson.
- Illinois: Smith, Williams, Johnson.
- Indiana: Smith, Miller, Johnson.
- Iowa: Smith, Williams, Johnson.
- Kansas: Smith, Miller, Johnson.
- Kentucky: Smith, Johnson, Jones.
- Louisiana: Smith, Williams, Johnson.
- Maine: Smith, Johnson, Brown.
- Maryland: Smith, Johnson, Jones.
- Massachusetts: Smith, Johnson, Sullivan.
- Michigan: Smith, Williams, Johnson.
- Minnesota: Johnson, Anderson, Nelson.
- Mississippi: Smith, Williams, Johnson.
- Missouri: Smith, Williams, Johnson.
- Montana: Smith, Johnson, Anderson.
- Nebraska: Smith, Miller, Johnson.
- Nevada: Smith, Johnson, Garcia.
- New Hampshire: Smith, Johnson, Brown.
- New Jersey: Smith, Williams, Johnson.
- New Mexico: Martinez, Garcia, Chavez.
- New York: Smith, Williams, Brown.
- North Carolina: Smith, Williams, Johnson.
- North Dakota: Johnson, Anderson, Olson.
- Ohio: Smith, Miller, Johnson.
- Oklahoma: Smith, Williams, Johnson.
- Oregon: Smith, Miller, Johnson.
- Pennsylvania: Smith, Miller, Williams.
- Rhode Island: Smith, Johnson, Brown.
- South Carolina: Smith, Williams, Brown.
- South Dakota: Johnson, Anderson, Smith.
- Tennessee: Smith, Johnson, Jones.
- Texas: Garcia, Smith, Martinez.
- Utah: Smith, Johnson, Anderson.
- Vermont: Smith, Johnson, Brown.
- Virginia: Smith, Johnson, Jones.
- Washington: Smith, Johnson, Anderson.
- West Virginia: Smith, Miller, Johnson.
- Wisconsin: Smith, Johnson, Anderson.
- Wyoming: Smith, Miller, Johnson.
